The Spykers had solid, if unspectacular qualifying
Spyker
Van Merksteijn
Quifel-ASM
Michelin
Click a link to go directly to that story!
Spyker
SNORAS Spyker Squadron Spa qualifying results
The SNORAS Spyker Squadron cars will start from a seventh and twelfth position on the grid tomorrow. The #94 Speedy Racing Team car with the Swiss trio Andrea Chiesa, Benjamin Leuenberger and Iradj Alexander will start from the 12th place while the #85 car with Peter Dumbreck, Ralf Kelleners and Alexey Vasiliev, qualified seventh.
The weather in Spa was excellent for qualifying - it was hot and sunny today - and, with a bank holiday this Monday, many visitors arrived early for Sunday's 1000 km race. Amongst the visitors that arrived today a large group of orange colored Dutch race fans found there way to the Spyker pit-box to get a closer look at the team's new C8 Laviolette GT2R.
Both Peter Dumbreck and Ralf Kelleners have not raced at Spa for respectively 9 and 11 years. For Iradj Alexander it was even the first time in the Spyker Laviolette this weekend. He will drive the Swiss car at the 24 Heures du Mans and got the chance this weekend to learn the car and crew before the 24-hour race mid-June.
Iradj Alexander: "I am really happy to rejoin the team [Iradj tested the C8 Spyder at Valencia last year] and the opportunity they have given me to drive the 24 Hours of Le Mans. My first impression of the car is very positive. After six or seven laps I started to get more confidence in the car and really enjoyed it".
"Although the car gives you a lot of confidence it is always the same" he said "when you want to go fast you need to explore the limits of the car. I have not driven close to the car's limits off course - I need to spent more time in the car to do that - but I should be much faster in the race when I have the opportunity to drive a long stint. What is really great about Spyker is the team: the people are very kind and friendly and the crew are real professionals. It really is a high level team and their way of working creates all the conditions for a driver to deliver results".
Peter van Erp, managing director Spyker Squadron: "The weekend has been though so far although our pace is good. This morning, in the third free practice session, the car was already 0.7 seconds quicker than last year's qualifying time while there is still a work to do. Spa is a ‘drivers-track' and you need to know the track well to be able to be quick. Famous corners like Eau Rouge and Blanchimont are seriously challenging for the drivers and the team has the task to deliver a setup that gives our drivers confidence in the car".
"I must say that Iradj did a great job today and he is learning quickly. We have been running a new engine-configuration in the #85 car. Both the crankshaft configuration and the firing order have been modified. The new engine is definitively better. Based on our tests this weekend we will decide if we will use the engine at Le Mans next month. I think our pace should be good tomorrow and if we do our job properly and stay out of trouble we should be able to finish in the top-5.
Andrea Chiesa: "Off course I am a bit disappointed about my qualifying time. At the beginning of the weekend we started working towards a setup that we thought would work best for us. Based on the knowledge gained in previous races we worked on improving the car but I guess we have taken the wrong route and it did not work in qualifying. We have also lost valuable time in the setup process due to the many red flag situations and a small oil leak that had to be solved. Although I am disappointed at the same time I am happy with the results of the other car. Peter did an excellent job and the new engine proofed to be well".
Peter Dumbreck: "The seventh place does not really mean so much to me, it's the time that matters. I wanted to do a mid-2:23 because I did a 2:24 this morning. We made some changes to the car before qualifying to try to improve it but I am not convinced they were a good move. We were trying to stiffen the rear and give it less of a roll. I was probably the wrong way so we will go back for tomorrow's race".
The race will start tomorrow at 12:50 and can be followed live on MotorsTV and Eurosport.
Van Merksteijn
All good things come in threes: third pole in a row for Van Merksteijn Motorsport
SPA - For the third time this season, the purple and white Porsche RS Spyder run by Van Merksteijn Motorsport by Equipe Verschuur will be starting from pole position in the LMP2 category in a round of the Le Mans Series. At the 7.004 kilometres long circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, Jos Verstappen set a fastest lap time of 2.05.841 minutes, which put the team on pole position in class for tomorrow's race and eighth overall on the starting grid. Like at Monza a fortnight ago, the team managed to outpace five cars from the more powerful LMP1 category.
Qualifying made it clear once again that the undulating circuit of Spa-Francorchamps is quite a challenging track for the drivers. The twenty minutes' session was interrupted with red flags on two occasions after drivers had gone off the track at high speed. After the first interruption, with 15 minutes and 23 seconds remaining, Jos Verstappen went out for his attempt to set a quick lap time, after he had had to abort his earlier run when the red flag came out. His lap time of 2.05.841 minutes put him on top of the leaderboard and he remained there for the rest of the session, securing his and the team's third pole position in as many events. However, this time it was a close call, as Andrea Bellichi with the Lola-Judd coupe came within four hundredths of a second from the Dutchman.
"Obviously, I already had a lap on my tyres as I had to come in when the red flag was out. On top of that, we had massive oversteer and we don't know the reason yet. In free practice this morning, the car was perfect and we left it was it was for qualifying, but all of a sudden, the balance was gone. This means that we will have to do some work to do tonight in order to prepare for the race, but I am confident that we will get it done", Verstappen commented.
Team owner, Peter van Merksteijn reported: "So far, we have been fastest in all sessions here at Spa, which makes us optimistic for the race, but as we have seen in qualifying, a lot of things can happen at a challenging track like this."
The 143 lap race with a maximum duration of six hours will start tomorrow at 12.50 pm. Eurosport will be reporting from 12.45 till 13.15 h. A review will be broadcast from 22.45 pm by the pan-European sports channel. Motors TV will be showing the race live from 12.45 till 14.00 and from 15.00 till 19.00 h.
Quifel-ASM
Accident holds back QUIFEL-ASM Team
Hopes set on tomorrow's race
Today's training session did not go as planned for the QUIFEL-ASM Team. An accident involving driver Oliver Pla during qualification left the car with a substantial amount of damage and prevented the Portuguese team from achieving a good result.
The team's main concern is now focused on repairing the Lola B05/40 ERA, for it to be ready for tomorrow's race. Despite the setback, the Portuguese team is hopeful of achieving a good result in the Spa-Francorchamps race.
The race will be televised live, as of 10.15 a.m., on the Eurosport channel, which will also broadcast highlights on Monday, 7th April, at 7.30 a.m. The race will also be shown on Motors TV.
Michelin
Six hundredths of a second in it as Peugeot/Michelin claim pole at Spa!
The dying minutes of today's qualifying session in Belgium saw Stephane Sarrazin step in to topple Scotland's Allan McNish (Audi R10 Tdi/Michelin) from the top of the timesheets and secure pole position with the N8 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. Michelin's partners were quickest at the legendary circuit of Spa-Francorchamps in the LMP2 category, too, thanks to former F1 driver Jos Verstappen (Porsche RS Spyder), while the Team Modena-run Aston Martin/Michelin was fastest in GT1.
Before today, no Audi R10 TDi had succeeded in qualifying either on pole or on the front row since the start of the 2008 LMS campaign. After posting the fastest lap early in this afternoon's session, however, Allan McNish must have thought he would finally have the honour of starting the 1,000km de Spa, round three of the 2008 Le Mans Series, from the front of the grid.
Step hane Sarrazin deprived the Scot of that privilege, however, at the very end of the session which was twice interrupted by red flag incidents. The N8 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP of Sarrazin/Lamy/Wurz will consequently head the field away on Sunday afternoon, while the N7 Peugeot of Gene/Minassian/Villeneuve (third fastest today) will start ahead of the Audi R10 TDi of Premat/Rockenffeler.
Matthieu Bonardel, Director of Four-wheel Competition
"Over the past two days, we have been faced with constantly changing track conditions with differing levels of grip, and that hasn't helped tyre choices. On top of that, the sessions were frequently interrupted so we weren't able to make any rigorous comparisons between the different tyre solutions available here in Belgium, although we did succeed in identifying suitable options for all the different categories.
"The weather has been unusually warm for Spa, with ground temperatures of more than 37 C, which is hotter than we saw at Monza. That could have compromised the chances of running with the soft compound, but in the end it worked very well.
"The medium compound which wasn't really considered to begin with given that Spa is a low grip circuit performed well, too, because the hot weather helped it climb to its ideal working temperature. We consequently find ourselves in a situation where the low-grip surface makes the soft tyre a possibility, while the high temperatures help the performance of our medium compound option.
"Compared with Monza, Spa is harder on the front tyres and much easier on the rears. The latter have a tendency to slide a lot, while the front tyres quickly climb in temperature and we tend to see a drop-off in performance.
"To sum up, certain teams tried the bold choice of soft tyres, which is to say they favoured grip and performance, while others went for what might be termed the 'reasonable' alternative of the more consistent medium compound. The latter is more suited to double stinting during the race which promises to take place in hot weather."
Stephane Sarrazin, driver Peugeot Sport:
How has your tyre testing gone this weekend?
"As usual, several options were available and we tried to find the best compromise for qualifying and the race. Fabrice, the Michelin engineer who works with our team, has a very good understanding of our car and of what we need. We go through the data together throughout the weekend. The way we function enables him to advise us on the best choice."
Have this weekend's unexpectedly high temperatures affected your tyre strategy in any way?
"It's true that it's hot and that's something we're not accustomed to seeing at Spa, but Michelin's range performs very well even in this heat. We will see how we fine-tune our strategy in tyre terms as a function of the weather and how the track evolves during tomorrow's race."